Evolution
by CastlebAby
Summary: What would have happened if Walter hadn't taken the car? If someone stopped him, and there was no news story to bring Paige back? How would the team deal with it all?
1. Chapter 1

Walter felt himself shaking as Paige walked out, saying her final goodbye to the team. He didn't need Cabe. He didn't need Paige. He needed release. He needed _risk_. He needed-

He reached for his keys but Toby was faster.

"Toby give me the keys" he said with a quiet rage. His head moved and face scrunched with a nervous tick he only got when he couldn't handle his emotions. The rest of the team watched the exchange. Happy was tense, ready to jump in if needed.

"Walter, as your friend, I can't let you go." He was calm with his hands, and the keys, behind his back. It was a trained calm, one only learned though his years on the street and at the poker table. There was almost no reason to be nervous. He was nearly sure his friend wouldn't hurt him. Like they all had agreed nearly a year ago, Walter wasn't a physical person. Though he wasn't so sure about the box full of Cabe's things.

"T-toby just, just give me, the keys." Walter's voice was rising, and shaking.

"No Walter."

"Toby give me the KEYS!" he shouted, banging his fist on the table beside him. The intake of breath from everyone was audible and Sylvester jumped. Walter turned, facing no one and taking a deep shaking breath. His whole body was, less trembling and more like twitching, like he was so overloaded with emotion he was short circuiting.

"Walter," Toby said slowly, as to not disturb the beast, "you are too emotional to drive in this state. You'll get yourself killed."

"I am _not_ emotional. I don't _have_ emotions."

"Good. Then there is no reason to go driving at this time of night," Toby stated, trying to use logic to talk him out of it.

There was a pause as Walter stared at his hands, which were supporting him against the table. Suddenly he stood up straight, and shoved the box off the table before efficiently going up the stairs to the loft. The team exchanged glances and let out a breath. They wouldn't see Walter for awhile after that.

 **A/N: This kinda just came to me after obsessing over this show the past couple of days and having no outlet for it. I kinda wanna continue it, but I don't really have a direction, and this is the first thing I've written in months. Not to mention the first thing I've posted here in YEARS. (seriously don't even look at those two other stories. Gross ew cringe) I definitely want some constructive criticism, and any ideas that anyone has. I want to make this Waigey, but getting them back on talking terms is going to be hard without the mortal danger the actual episode provided. Thanks for reading! -Abby**


	2. Chapter 2

Happy waited for Ralph to hang up before slamming the phone back on the dock.

"What was that about?" asked Toby, concerned, but still trying to lighten the mood.

"That was Ralph," she said obviously pissed, "he's tried to call Walter's cell three times and he hasn't answered." Happy stood up and started to walk away from her desk. "Paige is taking them for a weekend trip to Maine this afternoon. He wanted to say goodbye to Walter but he isn't answering. Cabe and Paige are one thing, but he is not allowed to push Ralph away too." She started for the stairs. "I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind."

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait." Toby quickly stopped her before she could go up the stairs. "You're right, that isn't like Walter. It's almost noon. By now even _his_ jets should have cooled."

Sylvester walked away from his chalkboard to join the conversation. "You think something could be wrong?"

"You don't need a Ph.D to know that that man was in extreme emotional distress last night. Probably more than he's experienced in his life. Even a normal person would have a hard time dealing with the abandonment he just went through. What's worse with Walter is he doesn't know healthy coping mechanisms. He is incapable of dealing with his emotions, so what does he do instead?"

"Focuses on logic and work," said Sylvester.

"Exactly."

"You think he went down the rabbit hole again." It was no a question but more of a fact. Happy swore to herself, knowing she was right.

"One of us needs to go up there and _gently_ get him out of it. Now Happy, you've done it before, do you think you can do it again?"

Happy crossed her arms and sighed. They acted like it was easy seeing their friend like that. "This is completely different from before, and even then it took him until he nearly passed out before he finally came out of it." She shook her head. She was only looking at the negative. There were other positive factors too. Mark Collins wasn't involved this time, and then there was Ralph too. She took a deep breath and turned towards the stairs again. "I'll try but I don't guarantee a good outcome."

She got to the top of the stairs and stopped. One of the file cabinet drawers was open. One that was not supposed to be open. "Crap." Happy made her way towards one of the old offices that was now almost always used as Walter's room. She and the team had only come in here on very rare occasions and they could all be counted on two hands. Happy knocked on the door. "Hey Walter I'm comin' in."

After seeing THAT drawer open, and knowing that THAT file had been missing, she shouldn't have been surprised at the view in front of her, but it still made her stop and a small gasp was audible. The room was dark. The walls were covered in paper and the paper covered in algorithm after algorithm. She didn't have a specialty in math but she still knew what she was looking at. All the work that Walter and Mark Collins had been obsessing over before Walter sent him to the asylum. This part was _just_ like last time. In the back of the room stood Walter, his back to Happy, pencil in his ear, scribbling furiously on a blackboard. Not surprisingly he didn't hear Happy walk into the room.

"Walter?" she said cautiously, taking one step into the room at a time. Happy didn't expect an answer and she didn't get one. Damn Paige. Damn Cabe for abandoning him. Damn them all. They weasel their way into their lives, make the team trust them, love that kid, and then just disappear, leaving Happy to do the clean up. They didn't need this. They didn't need them.

She reached up and grabbed his shoulder shouting his name again. "Walter!" He turned towards her, his eyes cloudy and a confused look on his face. Dark circles were pitted in his eye. He hadn't slept all night.

"Happy? I-" he glanced back towards the board. "J-just a sec..." he turned back, continuing to scribble more parts to an equation.

She sighed. He had responded, which was good, better even, than last time. Last time Collins had him so far deep he didn't even recognize the team at first. She grabbed his shoulder again and said more directly, "Walter you need to come downstairs."

"Yeah... yeah," he said obviously distracted, waving his hand in a 'go away motion. He continued to stare at the board. "I need- I'm almost- soon." Walter started writing again.

"Hey, Walter!" he didn't flinch. She grabbed both of his shoulders this time and turned him to face her. "Walter Ralph has been been calling you!" She was frustrated.

"Huh, Ralph?" he seemed to focus on her a little bit more.

"Yeah Ralph. That kid you've spent the past year practically raising? He's been trying to call you to say goodbye."

"Goodbye? What?" He shook his head, seeming to try and clear it.

"Yeah if you hadn't brought this crap up again," she gestured to the paper on the walls, "you might know that Paige is taking Ralph to Maine. You know to live there?" Happy's voice was rising. Walter looked around as if noticing all of the work for the first time. "And what the _hell_ gave you to idea to bring this out again? You know what it does to you!" Her voice rose to a yell.

"Ralph's leaving?" His eyes cleared and his face finally showed something more than just confusion. Sadness maybe?

Happy grumbled, "God you have a one track mind. Yes you idiot, the poor kid just wants to say goodbye before he leaves, but _no_ you have to go and throw yourself down the rabbit hole! The team is worried too, and with both Cabe and Paige gone now they need their leader!"

Something finally clicked in Walter's mind. He looked up and ran his fingers through his hair, and the pencil fell to the floor.

"I get that you're angry at Cabe" her voice softened, "and I get that what Paige did upset you, but doing this Walter? This isn't a solution to _anything_.

Walter looked down at his feet. She was right. He hadn't been thinking rationally and now both his team and Ralph were suffering for it. And why the hell did he think this line of work was going to do anything for him? He wasn't thinking, and that's what scared him the most. "I'm sorry, Happy," he apologized looking up at her, "How do I fix it?"

Happy let out a breath. He was back. "Well for starters you could go downstairs and apologize." She was relieved but the anger hadn't quite left her voice."

"Yes. Okay." Walter made his way out of his room with Happy following close behind. They went down the stairs to where Toby and sylvester were waiting.

"Hey there buddy," said Toby. He turned to Happy. "He good?"

"He's good."

"You good?"

A small smile crossed her face. "Yeah."

Walter faced the three of them, his arms crossed behind his back. "I apologize for my outburst. I was not thinking rationally." Walter thought back to a time when Paige taught him how to apolo-. He cut that thought off quick. "How can I make it up to you?"

"It's okay Walter, we're just glad you're feeling better." Sylvester smiled and patted his friend's arm.

"You can make it up to me by spending some time on my couch." Walter tensed. No matter how much he deserved it, the idea still repulsed him. Working would be the most efficient way to forget about yesterday. He would be uncomfortable, but he owed it to Toby.

Walter nodded his head. "Also thank you for taking the keys."

"Anytime." He smiled and patted his back. "let's get you some food." He led Walter away and to the kitchen.

Sylvester looked over to Happy. "How bad was it?" he asked grimacing. He was almost afraid to know.

"He was working on the crap from Collins. Help me take it down?" Happy said nodding towards the stairs.

"Yeah sure."

 **A/N: Thank you guys so much for all of the ideas. Like most of you I do love the idea of a hostage at the airport, but I'm not sure how the team would be involved. Cabe doesn't have a job anymore so he can't get them on the scene, even if he knew Paige and Ralph were there. The ideas are bouncing around though and I think I can come up with something. Also sorry if this chapter feel chopped off. I wanted to get this out so I could let you guys know my thoughts. Thanks so much for reading! -Abby**


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